African Folktales at Internet Archive: Tales Tiv Tell

After the Akan-Ashanti folktales of yesterday, I wanted to share another collection of stories from western Africa: Tales Tiv Tell, collected by Harold and Ruth Bergsman, just a click away at Internet Archive.

The Tiv people live in Nigeria and in Cameroon; you can find out more about them at Wikipedia.

The Bergsmans worked with students in Benue State in Nigeria during the 1960s collecting stories in the Tiv language, and the book was created with a Nigerian audience in mind, especially students in Nigerian schools; that's why you'll see reading comprehension questions after each story. There are over 40 stories in the book, plus illustrations by A. Ajayi. As you can see, the book contains both animal stories (including trickster hare!) and also stories about people:

So, enjoy this book written for Nigerian students; we can all learn from and enjoy these stories, just a click away at Internet Archive.

Tales Tiv Tell

collected by 

Harold and Ruth Bergsman